I bought a used Thumpstar 125cc mini-motard last night. Thumpstar is a cheap Chinese knock off of the Honda mini-bikes and it shows: this thing is a basket-case. The throttle and clutch has tons of slack, the rear brake locks up when the bike gets hot, etc. I bought the bike at 7pm last night and at 7:30 I was at IRR to ride in their monthly motorcycle night. There was about 7-8 other people running bikes and I only got in about 3 laps before I realized the bike had serious running probems (namely the aforementioned rear brake). The brake seized so now I get to spend my morning disassembling the caliper and removing the pads from it (which is ok since I don’t use the rear brake ever).
It also has knobby tires for running in the dirt so I need to find some slick or street tires to put on it so I can legally run at go-kart tracks.
It goes for $1400 new and I paid $800 so it’s not a huge investment but I’m hoping things go better at bike night next month!
UPDATE: I removed the pads and entire rotor. The rotor was so warped that even with the pads off, it locked tight against the caliper. Additionally I discovered that the gas tank is plastic and the gas cap has been crossthreaded so I may need to buy a new tank. 
Pictures here.
1 response so far ↓
1 arider86 // Oct 8, 2006 at 11:12 pm
sorry buddy I think you’ve got fooled, the bike on the pics is not a thumpstar.
contact me if you’re interested in motard rims or have some question.
waldewil@hotmail.com
2 mperham // Oct 9, 2006 at 7:11 am
It’s got XR50 bodywork so it may look like a Honda to you.